November 11, 2006.

I have a 13-hour transit in Moscow on my next trip, and I want to go outside the airport during that time, so I applied for a visa at the Russian embassy. The type of visa is a "transit visa," which is valid for stays of up to 3 days and only when transiting to a third country.

First, I printed the questionnaire from the embassy's website, attached photos, wrote on it, and submitted copies of the travel agency's reservation tickets and my passport. The Russian embassy does not have scissors or glue, so you need to prepare everything at home and bring it with you. There were about 3 or 4 questionnaire sheets in the waiting room, but it was unclear who put them there, whether someone simply printed too many and left them, or whether they were placed there in advance.

A Russian visa is free if you are willing to wait two weeks. If you need it issued faster, you will need to pay. I applied today (November 10th), so I will receive it on November 24th or later. Until then, my passport will be held by them. I must be careful not to lose the ticket for picking it up.

After submitting the documents to the middle counter, I submitted the small ticket to the counter on the left. I thought that was the end, but the counter on the left returned "a red paper and a yellow paper," and I had to submit the red paper again to the middle counter. It was a procedure that I didn't quite understand. Apparently, the yellow ticket should have been submitted when I received it. Well, now it seems like the door to the Russian border will open.